Journalists are starting to notice that the President is being very selective in the kind of media he’s allowing himself to be exposed to, and especially the fact that he seems to be spending a lot of time talking to “soft” media while avoiding anything resembling a format White House Press Conference, the last of which was two months ago:

Forget Chris Matthews — he’ll take Nancy O’Dell.

President Barack Obama has been taking a lot of questions in the two months since his last press conference or national news interview. He’s just been doing them with ESPN, Entertainment Tonight, People Magazine and FM radio stations around the country, mostly to talk local sports and regional cuisine.

This isn’t a mistake. Even at the height of a campaign in which they’ve been firing hard at Mitt Romney and trying to keep hold of the news cycle, Obama’s reelection staffers are pretty sure most voters aren’t tuning in.

“People get their news in many different ways,” Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told POLITICO. “Sometimes it’s turning on ‘Entertainment Tonight’ and seeing what the latest news is out there.”

Psaki said the president will be doing a variety of media appearances in the coming weeks with both national and local outlets, but for now, “We’re reaching an audience that may not be paying attention to the day-to-day political back and forth.”

That also lets them avoid the back-and-forth with the national press corps for much lighter outlets. Friday, Obama was behind closed doors at the White House to cap off a week in which Mitt Romney announced his running mate and Obama’s own vice president lit up controversy. But he was on the air: Obama called in to a New Mexico morning radio show to weigh in on “Call Me Maybe,” his favorite work-out songs and his ideal super power (he chose speaking any foreign language, though “the whole flying thing is pretty good”). The exchange ended with one co-host Kiki Garcia giggling, “I just flirted with the President of the United States of America.”

Obama rightfully decided to no longer deal with questions about Ayers or Rev. Wright 4 years ago. He wanted to run his campaign about the issues.

Romney has the right to say he’s not dealing with this Akin numbskull anymore, and its a wise decision. He’s clearly stated his position there, move onto something else.

However, trying to avoid abortion discussion is not wise. IIRC, there is something like 10% of the population, where abortion is not only important, its the only issue. Some people honestly don’t care for much else. They don’t care about party affiliation, they just care about that one topic. Some pro-lifers will vote for Democrats if they are pro-life. Some pro-choice people will consider voting for a Republican if they have a similar position. Romney was clearly pro-choice before changing his mind when he started running for President. But was he really just appeasing his base? The press probably should investigate further, and Romney shouldn’t duck away.